Why Are You A Welder?
Marty Rice, a welding instructor at the High School Career Center in Texas, wrote an excellent column this month on why he became a welder and why he stayed in the trade. You can read the article here.
Rice writes about terrible hours, unbearable temperatures, fatal on-the-job injuries and a host of other unpleasant circumstances that can go along with being a welder.
But he also talks about good, sometimes excellent, pay, being able to travel all over the world, the great camaraderie and other rewards that can also be experienced as a welder.
Reading such a well written, honest account of a welder’s life got us thinking, “Why are you a welder?”
Tell us what drew you to welding in the first place, what you like and don’t like about it, and what meaning welding has in your life.
Clearly, this isn’t a profession for the meek and mild. As Rice notes, welding can be “rough, hard and dangerous.” So why do you do it? Share your thoughts on this subject by posting a comment below.
Average (Not Rated)
January 29th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Im a street rodder and my projects-dreams can not become a reality unless I was a welder. Been doin this for a while now and whether its the most fattest arc bead or the most precise tig weld I know its what my passion is based on!
January 30th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I’m a welder out of trade choice, one not easily swayed to new technologies.
As a “very aged” professional tradesperson, I was reluctant to change “my way” in the collision repair environment, (that I also taught my staff welding auto body parts), for “new” MIG technology, as it did’t fit with my learned way of torch welding mild steel.
20 years went by, and I still conducted welding operations the “old way”.
Vehicle production metals changed, which disallow my “hard-headed” way of welding.
Then I met a Miller repersentative, who showed me a more productive and efficient way to weld.
I finally overcame my reluctance and hesitation to conform with new and proven technology, learning MIG welding is easier, and a much more efficient way to complete a quality welding operation.
This would not have been possible without Miller providing the step-by-step way of doing so.
Compared to torch welding today, once you get the “hang of it” MIG is like spreading butter on bread.
I’m a much better welder today because of Miller’s support and information, as are my appreciative staff, that bugged me for many years before I caught on!!!.
I have 3 Miller MIG welders (2-251′s and a 210) in my shop today because of it!
I’m also leaning toward a Miller plasma cutting system.
Who says you can’t teach on “old dog” new tricks?
January 31st, 2008 at 7:20 am
I am a welder because I want to be. I had to learn the trade as part of my profession (industrial maintenance) and loved it. 20+ years later I own an ornamental iron shop because I still love it. I love the opportunity to be creative and when a project is over to be able to step back and say I made that. In my line of work now I do it for the enjoyment. I am getting paid to be an artist of sorts.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Unfortunately my full time profession is not welding. Fortunately I still get to do alot of welding. I started in Vo-ag class in the seventies. . . okay the sixties and have always loved the tangible results of the finished product.
I enjoy the challenge of fabrication and how welding consumes my senses and doesn’t leave me time to worry about anything else.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:33 pm
because i love the job!!
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
My parents offerd to put me in a school of my choice, motors and steel is just better then anything else I work long hours and at heights, weld alot of bad metels. But motors and steel is just better then anythng else.
god bless all steel workers
February 4th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
my dad was a farmer, farmers weld out of necessity. he let me play w/ his stick welder & torch when i was only 12-13 years old. i grew up building hog self feeders out of 55 gal. barrels , car hood boats, & anything i could wrap my mind around. in high school i was one of the top two welders in vo-ag. my vocation was machine shop , into tool&die. i was exposed to tig welding. i’ve done a lot of welding on cars , repairs & hotrods. i’m retired now [ farming , built my own anhydrous fertilizer machine ] ,but i have a tig /ac-dc stick welder, a portable ac/dc , an acetylene torch , & just purchased a miller 252 mig & i’m trying to get aquainted w/ it. w/out a welder i would feel like i couldn’t do anything.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I weld as a hobby mostly and for work to help my department save money rather than always hiring a welder. I always enjoyed working with metal, trying to see what I can make out of scrap. I have only started stick welding 5 years ago but have saved my department well over $5000 in repairs. I have since learned Mig and Tig and now play with all 3. Of things I wish I had the time and shop space to build are a trike for the days I retire. In my spare time I will gather up scrap and just start piecing things together. Welding is one of those hobbies, you dont think of the dangers, its fun no matter what.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
because my wife says I have to work
February 6th, 2008 at 12:31 am
To have the power to fuse something together as strong as steel in the palm of your hand. The abilty to build anything on the face of the planet bigger, stronger, tougher, and just downright mean!
Why not do it!
February 6th, 2008 at 12:42 am
As of right now I am a freshmen in college and taking Welding as a required course for my Diesel Tech Major. Hands down it is my favorite class/lab and it makes Mondays a day to look forward to. Right now we’re learning Stick Welding and we will cover practically everything (TIG, MIG, Plasma Cutting, Oxy Acetylene, Brazing, General Metal Fab etc.) I have been MIG welding for a few years now mostly on my small projects, and every time the mask dims, it still never fails to amaze me. Being able to in fractions of a second to strike the arc, create the weld pool, and begin bonding together two pieces of metal together in that little bit of time is amazing.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:59 am
My grandfather always had a welding shop. I have always been interested in the craftsmanship. I started welding around 16 years old. I love to be able to fabracate anything i need. It is also great to see a finished product and feel the pride and get complements.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Welding offers me the opportunity to travel all over this great country, working on big jobs and small. Usually for pretty good pay and lots of good friends. When I work in a big building or something I can say 30 years from now – “I built that!”
February 6th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I was introduced to welding through a good friend and it immediately changed my life.It is very refreshing to know that I can take a flat piece of sheet metal,(these days stainless) and fab up a working piece of equipment of its own. Hard way to make a living? you bet! But the rewards of seeing the finished product is all I need! I wouldn’t have it any other way.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Well I started welding at an old job in a factory. I liked it and what you could do with the skills. I went to Hobart Institute of Welding Technology and am currently looking for a Union job probably at the local Boilermakers Union. To me welding is a treasured skill that I have and it will bring me in a good bit of money to do it for a living.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I am a welder by Choice, not by Chance. I weld to support my family, I weld to support myself, I weld to support this Great Country. I weld to teach my students how reach for the stars. I weld because I want to, not because I have to.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I started welding fresh out of high school my old shop teacher got me job down the street from the school part time. Shortly after 911 I joined the Army as a welder. I love my job because I know that the things I creat and build can save my fellow soldiers lifes. I just recieved the syncrowave 350 today its a great machine. I really wish that Miller would have sent a power cord with the darn thing though they are not easy to come by in Iraq ya know. Im a little new at ordering things but you would think that if you order a nice new $5,000 machine you would get a power cord. but it is a great machine.
February 8th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Welding isn’t a job, it’s a career.
I have been welding for 7+ yrs. and i have yet to find a welder who hates “burning wire” for a living. When you see and/or meet another welder there is an unspoken bond. You automatically know what type of person they are, no questions needed.
The camaraderie is great.
February 8th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
My passion for welding began in I was about 8 years old. I went to a friends house for a birthday party and on the wall was a white on a black background picture of of a welder welding and I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen and I was hooked! I have had a burning desire to weld ever since. My Dad was an auto mechanic and he had an old AC cracker box that I started tinkering with when I was about 14. He showed me the basics and I grabbed a hand full of good old 6011 and some chunks of rebar and I went to town! When I was a junior in high school, a good customer of ours helped me got a job with the local welder. I worked for below minimum wages, but I knew I was getting something far more valuable……a career. I have now come full circle with the art of welding, I currently teach high school and adult students at our local vo tech. I am truely blessed, I live in the greatest country in the world and I get to share my passion with others. Ultimately, I am a welder because that is what God has planned for me. If you are not happy with your job, you need to move on to something else. Life is to short to spend it doing something you don’t enjoy.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:43 am
welding is a passion for me, a desire, to be able to grab any bit of plain boring steel and turn it into a work of art its like watching a child grow, each step, every tack weld, assembly and final product, every detail and measurement, making sure everthing is sqaure and true, welding for me isnt a hobby nor a job, its my life!!
February 10th, 2008 at 3:53 am
There is a lot to be said about people who are willing to dive in and get there hands dirty. Especially in such a skilled trade as welding. I am proud of the fact that I am a welder, and I can build anything I want. Welding is a good foundation to fabrication, and is necessary to be a good fabricator.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Life is a FUNNY thing, and the good lord see’s over us all, giving us talent in some places, and very little in others. I was blessed with the capability to WELD. When I was 15 my father, James W Anderson, brought me home a brand new huntsman hood, I used the hood to go to work at my brother in laws fathers structural steel shop in Long Beach Cal. For the most part I would use the hood to watch how the welders worked watching my brother in laws brother Edger, prepare to take his D1.1 certification test, after Ed past, he was gone to the feild Art would leave me in the shop to punch baseplates, deber, grind , etc…. one day after welding in class at school, then going to work at the shop, I was left there while Arts dad was out bidding on a job, I picked up two sides of a columb cap and using 7024 jet rod welded up a saddle for a columb, it had a pine hole or two, but for the most part the bead profile was pretty and clean, the slag pleald up like a bannana peal, and feel right off, should I say more, That was all it took I was hooked, Arts dad, got back to the shop, and asked me what I was doing, and I told him, putting these saddles for the columbs together, and he said hey ‘That looks pretty Good’ and I’ve been welding ever since, HA, HA, HA,…I now own my own Welding company, IronEagle Welding LLC. that was 27 years ago and tons of rod later. It has proven to be a honest living ever since, not being rich but being able to buy a hamburger when I am hungry. and that makes me feel good. D.Anderson IronEagle Welding LLC. Bullhead City, Topock, Arizonia
February 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am
What else could you do with a small time frame of education to start that pays what welding does besides rob banks. I’ve been around the world thanks to welding and I think its a art. I’m proud of my trade and I think its a shame most public schools don’t have Industrial Trades anymore.
February 17th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Hi! I am just starting tig and I have a lot to learn it’s great
I dabbled in gas.,stick,mig, now time at 73 to do tig my car body is falling a part and I am forming metal w/hand hammer and sand bag.Oh well:
good luck guy’s!
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:45 am
Because I like getting hot molten metal down in my boots, pants, shirts, hair, etc. Working long hours in all types of weather, breathing in god knows what! Trying to string leads through forty miles of hell! Getting shocked, in damp conditions or high humidity! Dealing with an array of different kinds of people! That’s why I am a welder, did I mention the pay is less than desirable, too? God I love my job!
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I love being able to fix things people can break.I also love being able to make things out of a simple piece of metal
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Welding is one of the most empowering things that I have ever done. To be able to take something as strong as steel, (I am a stainless pipe welder by trade) and then to mold it, and reshape it, is an incredible feeling… especially as a woman. I learned to weld as a hobby, so that I could create artwork for my home and family but fell in love with it and decide to make it a career (the money doesn’t hurt either). I love what I do and wouldn’t change it for anything.
March 15th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I am an industrial mechanic by trade, and welding was a neccesary function that I had to learn. Once I was introduced to it, I really enjoyed it.
I even started a small welding business on the side. I changed jobs recently, and now I am welding full time. Not neccesarily out of choice, but the money was better than the industrial mechanic position I had. I believe it takes a certain kind of person to choose that profession. You really have to enjoy it to make a living at it. I believe I would die if I had to sit at a desk all day. Keep on “burning” my brothers and sisters!!
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
It’s an art which pays well and I enjoy what I do. I take pride in seeing the finished product (custom skylights, Wasco Products com.) on buildings. I have worked 20 years for this company and have done well even in the tuff economy. When I smell smoke I check to see what part of me is a fire.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:39 am
I started my industrial career as an apprentice pipefitter at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Spent eight years there before I got sick of being a civil servant. When I got a job in private industry, I quickly learned that the shipyard way- doing only your job and nothing else- was the fastest way to the unemployment line. So, I started teaching myself to weld so I could become a multi craft mechanic. 15 years later, I own my own piping and welding business. Besides the money, I like being able to fix my own stuff (I have rebuilt two boat trailers given to me by friends, a twelve footer for my jon boat, and a 24 footer for my cabin cruiser), and I’m always doing something to help my buddies out. That’s what I like the most about it, because being an independently employed welder, I know what it costs to get a repair done!
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Once I got out of the service I was introduced to being a tacker for a fab shop. That is all it took because after a few weeks I was promoted to doing the welding in the trailer shop welding up car carrier trailers. Since then I went to Welders Training and Testing Institute and was certified up to 3/4 inch plate. Been welding since 1974 and even though I had a lot of layoff points in my life I could always have a job in a heart beat because of my training. Just put in 17 years in at a power plant construction job and really never new what kind of money was out there. I also have been nuclear certified and did my fair share. I just retired in Feb. 2008 and went out and purchase a Trailblazer302,Spoolamatic, and a 12cvExtreme and put them on a trailer so I can hook up anytime the job calls. I wouldn’t give up any of the experience or freindship I recieved over the last 34 years on the jobs. We are the ones that get the job done no matter what. We are also a dieing breed because they are getting short handed out in the field. GOD Bless everyone of us.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I think that if people love welding, than they can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) if people are just doing it for the money reasons, than i dont really know what to say. but i know that im just starting welding in my basic class and it could turn out to be a fun job and you could take pride in your work when your finished. It doesn’t seem like too hard of a job, but who know’s. Im sure that there are different types of welders for different aspects.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:41 am
i think that if people want to weld they should!!!!!! and if you love it do it!!!!!!i dont know alot about it but im learning and i injoy it !!! theres alot of jobs that need welders and i think that more people should learn its a good acpect in life you may need
May 6th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I dont no much about welding but im learning and so far i like it..
May 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I have only welded a few times and i was really nervous at first but i actually like it a lot and now im not so nervous.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:09 am
The Money is very good in welding and in some places up to $156.00 an hour!
May 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I agree with what this says about pay. Many people from this highschool took all the welding classes and when they graduated if they were good enough they got jobs at Lakeshore. Lakeshore pays really good compared to most jobs around here.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I actually got into TIG welding because I am a DJ…..
I did not like the quality of the flight case that were out there when I started spinning tunes over 30 yrs ago.. A friend gave me a used tig torch that I hooked up to the buzz box and started welding thin wall metals for the frame work on my flight cases..
30 some years later I have 10 or so tig torches.. A 350 P Mig setup, Syncrowave 250 tig/stick machine “love aluminum welding-do custom raft frames”, 5 Journeyman torch sets, I build gooseneck trailers when I get board and have a 2100 Sq Ft shop with 10 of every tool built by man..and a few I made myself along the way …LOL
I am currently rigging up a bed for the Sterling 5500 4×4 crew cab truck I just bought.. I loath people with “can’t” in their vocabulary.. Tell me what you you want it to do and get out of my way…
‘What a long strange trip it’s been” and loving the journey everyday!!!
July 16th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Liked welding when I was 10 and now I’m 55 … Don’t figure …
August 8th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Its value is huge, repair, construction, etc. Bo matter what other type of mechanic you are you double your skill set being a welder.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I started learning to weld about age 16 with an Oxy-Acety. rig bought with paper route money. I added to that a 180 amp Buzzbox about age 17. Over the years I have fabricated many items for the shop, trailers, tables, carts, you name it. Hanging out in a machine shop gave me opportunities to weld up quick repairs that would come into the shop. Much, much, later I went to a welding course at the local Comm. College, hung around a few years as a lab. tech. and eventually taught for a while. The thrill of building something out of nothing has always been satisfying. I just stopped and realized I’m still learning after 49 years. What great fun I’ve had, and great friends I’ve made. Regards to all!
August 9th, 2008 at 11:28 am
hey im 20 years old and i am a welder because and i love to weld! i am currently employed as a steel worker and i have my own mobile welding business part time. i love fixing broken equipment. i look at the problem and figure out why it broke, how can i make it so it wont brake again. thats what i like about my job, and theres just a special feeling when your mask is down and your welding away.. its like nothing else matters, your zoned out. all your mind is on your weld
Scotty
August 20th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
im 22 and im a welder because i eat,sleep and sh#t welding. i love everything there is about welding and theres nowhere id rather be than behind my helmet stairing at beads. i am currently a lead tig welder at a manufacturing company.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:06 am
I welded every working day for 30 yrs for CBI Industries. everything from water towers to nuclear reactors. welded on every type product they build.one of the most honable carees a man can do. nothing but hot,hard dirty work but wouldn’t change a day. skilled craftsmanship is what made America.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:49 am
I weld, therefore I am.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I learned to weld at newport news ship iwelded at every shipyard in the area for 16 years..then moved to a barrier island where there wasn’tany place to weld so i leard carpentry trade did that for 15 years have moved back to where igrew up bought a miller trailblazer 44d a old army truck and am going to try my own buiness wish me luck aa moble welding service have truck will travel
October 18th, 2008 at 6:06 am
I WELD, THEREFORE, I AM
December 7th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Welding takes me to a place of everything is right in the world. It just seems when your in the shop with the welders humming and the sound of the torches burning and the grinders turning just takes you to a place of this is where I have to be. I may sound crazy but thats just the way it is. If I couldn’t wounder in to the shop at the end of the day and tinker on something i would go nuts….
January 9th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I started building grills and pig cookers on the side and it evolved in to a full time repair and fabrication business. I now do work for Farmers, Loggers, Sawmills, Cotton gins, etc. I do all of Fineline East alluminam fabrication for there Centurion and Gekko ski and wakeboard boats. I started welding because I enjoy designing and building. I’ve owned several Miller welders in the past from a Thunder bolt to a Big 40 diesel. I’ve owned one Lincoln welder in my 14 years of welding and I now trying to sell the big red mistake so I can buy another Miller.
February 19th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I was lucky to have a father who was a skilled tradesmen, he taught welding at a local comunity college. When I was 12 he would take me in on Saturday mornings. He would give me a handfull og 6010 or 7018 and some scrap steel and say ” take this to the back of the shop, dont talk to anyone, dont walk around, just burn this rod till you figure it out.” He would check on me now and again and give me some pointers. Before I was 16 years old I could weld all position, stick, mig, Flux core in aluminum, stainless and carbon steel. I spent 18 years in a family owned business welding tool steel alloys, hardfacing, and structural steel welding. I earned an Interprovincial Red Seal Journeymen C of Q and have held many CWB and TSSA (ASME) tickets. I have earned an honest living as a welder, and luckily have never been unemployed for more than a couple of days.
March 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Got expelled from school when I was a Freshman. Took welding as my vocational class and loved it from the first moment I ran a bead. It’s been over ten years since then and I don’t see myself quitting anytime soon. The pay is excellent…now. There’s been burns, on the job injuries that have changed the way I live ( good thing I can take it easy TIG welding!) but I wouldn’t choose to do anything else. It’s what I love. It takes a special breed of person to WANT to do this and LOVE the industry…not just for the money. My pop was a welder and when I was 18 I found out my grandfathers were too. Guess it just runs in the family!
March 19th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
i started to weld in lawrence county votech pa and have loved it .iweld at work.i weld handles on weld chipping hammers .hammer heads on wheel weight pliers and seal removers .and really enjoy it ialso weld for ahobby at home.FOR OLD FORGE TOOLS I JUST BOUGHT A MILLER SYNCHRO WAVE 200 TIG I ALSO HAVE A RENGADE 180 MIG.ALSO AMILLER140 AND 180 AUTO SET THEY ARE THE BEST IN THE WELDING WORLD.THANKS MILLER FOR MAKING SOME FINEST WELDERS MONEY CON BUY.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:45 am
I’m a fabricator/welder in training and the reasons why I decided to go this dangerous and potentially deadly road is because I like making things from just a few pieces of steel. Watching something come together from nothing is satisfying, and when you lay that perfect TIG or arc bead, a wave of satisfaction hits you, and you want to do it again. I also like a challenge and the shitty pay (hardly shitty at all) makes it all worthwhile. Then you see these stupidly massive diesel welders and multi man welders that these boys at Miller make (you guys are the best in the biz) and you think “ain’t that a big mutha f#####r!”
April 28th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
WELL I HAVE BEEN A WELDER OF MIG STICK FLUX @TIG FOR A WHILE NOW AND I MUST SAY WELL IM OK! IM IN LOVE WITH IT ITS A ART IF U WOULD.ONCE ONE GETS THE BASICS THE SKY IS THE LIMIT BABY. I CANT GET ENOUGH OF IT.ITS VERY HARD TO FIND A GOOD COMPANY THESE DAYS.
May 9th, 2009 at 3:14 am
I like fixing and making new parts from steel and you just can’t do it without welding. 34 years and still going.
May 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Been welding for 9 years, wouldn’t trade it for anything! Nothing like burning rod and makin a buck while your doing it!
May 11th, 2009 at 9:42 am
i am a welder because i have a steady hand it pays well and also because i enjoy welding class and have experince in it before i love doing hands on work welding just fits me.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
My brother has been welding since his junior year in high school and has taught me much of the stuff he knows. When most people think of welders the first thing they think of is a guy. One of my brothers best friends was a female welder and she was one of the best in the business. Although my brother enjoys the work of welding in the summers I also hear him complain about the 140 degree heat in t he shop and burns. I don’t think he would like to do anything more in the end.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I started 25 years ago, green as all heck, when the boss said go help clarence. Now I weld in a job shop creating/repairing all kinds of items… the reason I continue to do my best? is because the architectual engineers of this world would be exposed as incompetant if the fabricators ceased to fabricate.
June 6th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
It all started back in the summer of 1974. When I needed a hitch fabricated and installed on my old pickup truck. So I borrowed a welder and I did the job with out any training or instruction. I do not know what the job looked like to others but to me it was great. That is when the seed of welding got planted. Sure I have worked at other trades, but I always come back to welding. I feel the reason being is that God planted that seed of welding in me so many years ago. And who am I to up root that seed. God gave me the welding talent to serve others……..
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:27 am
i started as an apprentice pipe welder in the offshore & marine industries right after i finished my high school in2007.Even it’s a tuff job but and the end off the day i felt satisfied ,knowing that the skill and intrest that i put in my job turned into somthing amazing.Every time when i see an oil rig,fpso ,lng ship,and other offshore structure,i know that i have my hand on it.Te biggest highlight of my career right now is, having worked on the world first FDPSO and LNG/FSRU.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I sculpt metal via welding, and I’m entranced by the way welding seemingly allows me to hang metal in the air. I started almost 4 years ago, and vividly remember coming home from my first class and telling my husband how much I love the smell of burning metal (yeah, I know it’s not good for you). My day job is as an occupational therapist, rehabbing people with physical problems. The joy I get from welding allows me to be a much better therapist. And I love the surprise aspect of being a woman who knows a traditionally male skill.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Boilermakers Local 169
August 2nd, 2009 at 4:12 pm
It all started back in 1992, i wanted to be a mechanic ,for the love of cars but my high school didnt have a class so i tried welding didnt like the burn at first but was doing well practically&theoritically graduated with the highest past in my class, my teacher gave me a hack saw as a gift not knowing that my dad bought a lincoln welder for me at home i was at a point of no return. aplied for a job out of school as a welder they hire me as a maintenance person from there i purchase every thing that a shop would need ,stop working with the company and now doing my own .some times the road take a detour but you will find your way back.
September 6th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I started welding with my cousin at the age of 14 iam now 47 there is just some thing about welding that draws people like a magnet . So you get burned, work in the most extreme conditions but the pay is good.My next move is into inspection in about 10 yrs.right now iam just having fun doing it and passing on my knowledge unto the younger guys .It is sad that that young guys are not getting to welding , where i work there about 18 welders only 1 is under 25 .
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Love the challenge of trying to be the best.Doing the best weld possible
December 29th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
i got onto welding as a fluke 38 years ago.it was the best way to get into the company i wanted to work for.i had a family to support and i guess i never got out of it.unfortunately management doesnt know what they have for productive an d dedicated welders
January 4th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
I started welding at 11 yrs. old, I’ve done just about every kind of welding there is . It is something you have to love in the beginning, welding is about skill level and the right frame of mind. Welding has given my family a comfortable life and my son his own station in life. I taught welding and it is very important to be taught by the best instructors you can find. After welding for 5 yrs. I went to the Hobart Welding School. There I really learned how to weld and understand what welding was all about. My father was a weldor,and I saw his happiest when he fabricated different projects throughout the years. Working as a weldor now days, depending on the industry you enter, is tough but rewarding.
January 8th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Love the article Mr. Rice! I started welding with my father when I was 6 years old doing the oxyacetylene process mainly silver solder because my father said this is where real welding begins. I moved on to stick welding at 8 I was welding pipe. At 15 I got my AWS cert in which I dropped out of school lied about my age and went to LEC in Borego Springs in which I became their certified structure welder. Upon layoffs I went back to school for two years, went in to my father’s industry and became a heavy truck technician which I am still today and currently work for San Bernardino County Fire and have been for 15 years. In the past Peterbuilt 10 years, Freightliner 5 years, Ford 2 years, the quarry 2 years, and TC construction 2 years. If anything it opens the doors. If you’re good they will listen. Truck shops do not hire welders they hire mechanics. As an apprentice you have a major perk because the truck shops still have a lot of welding and no one wants to do it.
February 5th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Hard ain’t it back in 1965 ! I began as an oxy acet welder on oil pipe stuff with all the pops and bangs and swearing. I wanted to go stick, but couldn’t afford the transformer so I wound it myself from two insolating trannies. Well I’d got 50 amps at 50V, fine for small rutile not quite enough for low H2 stuff. By golly what a learning curve I went though with arc eye and I don’t regret the sweat and holla. Technology has done leaps and bounds but one still has to add the metal. Probably the hardest is underwater welding in stick form which I did as part of the merchant marine. Although my certs expired yrs ago, the cudos will stay with me for ever. Nuclear work is another delight, just as spotless clinical as a surgeon goes about his patient. So diverse we all are. Keep it up !
February 9th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I still maintain it was the commercialisation of cheap MIG in the early 1970′s that permitted the great unskilled to run the welding guns, piling so much metal on joints without the skill to get the root weld and of course it ran right though all the workshops and ruined the talent out of the subject. How many stick welders have a good test pass ? Very few even in my days. Is one still familiar with terms, dendritic,austenitic,ferritic, Fe-C solution graphics and pick the right electrode for the job ? My 1965 craftsman cert made quite sure of this.
Unfortunately in the mid 1980′s I suffered from overdosed Cobalt 60 radiation from a pipeline spider that got stuck opened and had to give up going nuclear specials, where the dosh is. In the field, those where some of the hazards us welders faced. Fortunately some 40 yrs on from that exposure, no lasting effects and normal children.
February 15th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
I Started my welding career in the Navy, attending navy welding school in san diego, ca. Since then I’ve been welding now for 38 years and still love to take and idea make a drawing and fabricate whatever it is and weld it together to admire the finished product. Now I try to pass the trade/adventure along to the up and coming generation. I recently spent 5years at my local community college as a welding instructor passing on my vast knowledge to all my students at night after working my day job as an industrial maintenance mechanic/certified welder. After coming full circle in my career it’s time to start looking towards retirement in 7short years. Too all of you out there good luck in your endevors. After all these years, I still have alot of fun and pride welding everyday. It’s time for the next generation to make a great living welding/traveling.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
My first knowledge of welding was in my dads body shop at the age of about 8. They build stock cars wrecker bodys and were the general repaire shop of the neighborhood. My dad said if you could use a burning tourch and could weld oxy-acetelene or stick. There wasn’t anything you couldn’t make. I was hooked. That was about 1967. I was fourtunate to go to a vocational H.S. and majored in welding. Were I had an instructor who at the time was pushing 70. He had been involved in welding a long time. So you can imagine his knowledge. He started us right from the inseption of welding and made us stick weld with bare electrodes. Give that a try. Over the years I have been exposed to many different welding procedures. It never gets old that when you brek out the welding rig everyone notices. They are all amazed at what we do. I have also learned over these many years that ther are those who know how to weld and those of us who ars weldes. If your reading this and just getting started I encourage you to keep it up and you’ll never get to good. As Mr. Hendershot preched Practice! Practice! Practice! God rest his sole.
May 14th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
um ok im a pipe welder cause my only other choice would be to be a pipe fitter and well im too good for that aint gona happen anyway love it loved it for years and i probably couldnt keep a regular job and woulnt want to.
May 26th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Cause its like making sweet sweet love!